


Carried Away

by regentzilla



Category: The Lord of King | Astyanax
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-03
Updated: 2015-07-03
Packaged: 2018-04-07 12:44:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4263708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/regentzilla/pseuds/regentzilla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There must have been a way back to Remlia— but Cutie was just Rosebud's retainer, a bodyguard with nobody to guard and no powers to do it with. Summoning Astyanax had been miraculous enough when she was brimming with energy.</p><p>Where to even begin?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Carried Away

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [areyougame](http://areyougame.dreamwidth.org) community! The prompt was "Bad Ending – Astyanax never makes it back to Earth, and Cutie finds herself waiting there for someone who may never come."

This was a strange world, but Cutie could always rely on the warmth and light of the sun to bring her comfort. Something about its presence reminded her of Princess Rosebud's smile.

Astyanax had told her so much about his home as they traveled together, and Cutie thought that surely she had learned almost everything there was to learn, but she was quickly finding out that what she knew wasn't enough. She could remember clear as day the look on Astyanax's face when she explained the circumstances— did she herself look just as lost, just as frightened and gobsmacked?

There were things about her she suspected still weren't quite entirely human. She hadn't eaten since arriving, nor had she slept more than a scant few hours. She knew from watching Rosebud and Astyanax that humans needed much more to get by than fairies. They moved so much slower. It was frustrating in many ways, despite the few familiar things, to see herself suddenly so clumsy and sluggish.

Her strongest magic, the kind she had learned to control masterfully, the kind that made her Rosebud's most trusted advisor and friend, was completely gone. That was likely the change that disturbed her the most.

  


* * *

  


What Cutie remembered as her birth was not that, exactly.

She remembered a cold, moonlit night, so bright it could easily match the lightness of day. She remembered a circle of fat little mushrooms, the white roar of a waterfall, and in the midst of it all Rosebud's gentle face.

“Would you assent to join my retinue, gentle fairy of the waterfall?”

It wasn't until many more nights had passed that Cutie would fully realize the weight of the moment. The young princess, even then the sole leader of Remlia, was alone. She had taken a solemn knee, the cool moisture from the forest's deep carpet of moss seeping into her gown. Her hair was free of adornments, the moonlight turning black into rich purple.

Cutie, warmly fuzzy-headed from being in the world outside of the waterfall for the first time and stricken by the grace of the young woman before her, had nodded yes.

From that day on she would not leave Rosebud's side until Blackhorn tore them apart.

  


* * *

  


Cutie could count the similarities between Astyanax and Rosebud on one hand, but the items on the short list were anything but insignificant. She saw more than a little bit of her Princess in the boy. That was a good part of why it felt strange to be the one doing the summoning, although there was no fairy ring or full moon involved, and made it even stranger that this time she was the one asking for help.

The great hero chosen by the land of Remlia was young, even younger than the prodigy Princess. He made his entrance on one knee and draped in armour that just barely fit his frame, a child where there should have been a knight. There must have been something special about him that made the energies of Remlia pluck him from his world, out of all the other beings in the universe. His name was surely a hint, as was the way wielding Bash became second nature to him almost instantly— but there was no time to question it.

Cutie had read all about her own kind, learned about the trickery and the mischief she was supposed to delight in, the rule-bending and sneaky manipulations, but she felt nothing but sickly shame as she told Astyanax that only Rosebud had the power to send him home.

  


* * *

  


It took her a long time to get out of the city. Even the largest towns in Remlia were nowhere near the size of where she found herself— Greenview, Astyanax had called it. The name was certainly apt, once the bustle of people and the slate grey of concrete faded away. Surely there was some spark of magic left in her, because the instant her feet touched the dirt and moss she could breathe easier than before. Cutie climbed and stumbled through the underbrush, mourning the loss of her wings, until Greenview was so distant as to be invisible.

She sat at the base of a boulder, a massive chunk of green-gilded rock nestled into the forest floor, and after a few deep breaths she cursed Rosebud under her breath. She had sent the wrong person back, the fool, the clumsy girl—

But someone had been sent back. Rosebud's powers had been unleashed, if just for a second. There must have been a way to get back to Remlia, or to bring another person to Greenview, or to know if Rosebud or Astyanax had somehow slipped through the cracks between worlds along with her. Cutie had never been one for making plans on her own. She was just Rosebud's retainer, a bodyguard with nobody to guard and no powers to do it with. Summoning Astyanax had been miraculous enough when she was brimming with energy. Her stomach twisted with frustration at herself and Rosebud, and at Astyanax, who had done nothing but his best. She felt more than a little guilty about that.

The sun was beginning to set, sinking behind a hill, painting the tops of the trees in orange and leaving everything below doused in cool shade. Cutie closed her eyes and turned her face towards the warmth of the sun. Where to even begin?

Perhaps she would sink into the Earth here, slip into a dream and tumble so far that she would find herself back in Remlia, and someday a waterfall would flow through the place where she fell asleep.


End file.
